Slate Belt gay couple fight for the right to marry in Pa.

Friday

Jul 12, 2013 at 12:01 AM

DAVID PIERCE

Edwin Hill and David Palmer lived as domestic partners for 25 years, mostly in Upper Mount Bethel Township, before journeying recently to Maine — where same-sex marriage is legal — to realize their dream.

Though they got married at last, Pennsylvania still treats them as two single people.

"We came home and all of that was taken from us," Palmer said of the marriage. "We have no rights."

When one partner dies, half their assets will be taxed by the Keystone State at 15 percent, Palmer said. A surviving heterosexual spouse, on the other hand, is entitled to inherit the property without financial penalty.

Palmer and Hill, both Pennsylvania natives, live in retirement near Kirkridge Retreat Center, where they met.

They have joined a class-action suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union to strike down Pennsylvania's restriction of marriage to heterosexual couples only.

"We want to live our lives here where we met," said Palmer, who retired after working at the Newark Museum. "We don't want to have to move to be treated as a fair and equal couple."

Palmer and Hill, who retired after a career at the U.S. Veterans Administration, are among four Pennsylvania gay or lesbian couples who married in other states but are "treated as legal strangers in their home state," according to the suit filed Tuesday in federal court.

Six other couples in the suit have never married but want to legally clear the way to marry in Pennsylvania.

Plaintiff Maureen Hennessey's female spouse died after 29 years together, but Hennessey didn't receive any of the financial protections extended to widows.

Two children of one of the couples also joined the suit, charging that the inability of their parents to marry reduces family income and stigmatizes them.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision two weeks ago partially striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act still leaves gay and lesbian couples in Pennsylvania without the rights granted to other couples, said Mary Catherine Roper, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

It is the first suit filed in any state since the DOMA ruling.

"This is just the next step," Roper said. "It's sort of the logical next step."

Reaction to the suit among local elected officials was cautious.

"I'm still not crazy about the marriage thing," said state Rep. Mario Scavello, R-176. "It's whatever the courts decide."

"It seems that it's evolving," state Rep. Mike Carroll, D-118, said of the law and attitudes toward same-sex marriage. "I haven't decided what the state's position should be as far as same-sex marriage. I'm not sure people of our state and people of our region understand what that means."

Carroll worries that if Pennsylvania's gay and lesbian marriage ban is struck down, religious institutions could be forced to marry same-sex couples even if that violates church teachings.

"The lawsuit will be decided in the courts where, of course, it should be decided," Brown said. "However, personally I do favor civil unions, which would give gay couples all the financial rights and benefits similar to married heterosexual couples. I believe this is the fair and right thing to do."

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartright, D-17, supports the lawsuit. He said the plaintiffs reflect the diversity of Pennsylvania.

"Many have been together for decades, and some are raising children together," Cartwright said. "The situations faced by these couples are similar to those faced by the thousands of same-sex couples in Pennsylvania who are being denied the basic rights that are afforded by marriage."